Chapter 9
“You were supposed to be holding onto me, Kaka-sensei,” Naruto complains when he can drag air back into his lungs. Whatever Ino’s dad did, didn’t work as the blond rolled to his back and looked at the sky. He sees leaves obscuring a good part of his vision, but the clouds are gorgeous in the sky and he can feel the warmth of the sun on his skin. Wait… he thinks, remembering the tent and an all too still Shikamaru being propped up across from him.
“You’re not Choji.”
The voice is painfully familiar and yet not at the same time. Turning his head, Naruto knows why. “Shikamaru,” he breathes at the sight of the familiar dark hair pulled into a small ponytail and warm brown eyes.
“How do you know who I am?” The kid standing before him can’t be anymore than five or six, and yet Naruto sees the familiar twist of the kid’s brow as he begins thinking. “You’re a leaf shinobi, at least you wear the headband, but I’ve never seen you around before,” Shikamaru continues, pursing his lips in thought.
“Uh, sorry, I know your dad. He sent me to find you.”
“Well you didn’t manage that jutsu right, did you? I don’t think you’re supposed to fall on your face when your body flickers, but maybe you’re new at it.”
Naruto smiles as he sees Shikamaru work through the information and selfishly takes a moment to sit in Shikamaru’s presence. Here, he is alive, far from that gray being he saw in the bed
“So what’s your name then?”
“Naruto,” he smiles and stands, dusting himself off. He finally takes a look around and sees the two of them are a familiar hill. It’s the same hill he’s caught the other laying on many times and he knows this is why he found him here first, of all places.
“Naruto? Huh, just like that kid,” Shikamaru murmurs and also stands before pushing a lock of hair out of his eyes. “I guess if dad is looking for me, I better get home. Choji probably got distracted anyway. See ya, Mister.”
“Uh, wait!” Naruto yells and when the other turns, he finds himself talking before he thinks about it. “Let me walk you home.” The other doesn’t say anything but he doesn’t run off either and Naruto takes that as acceptance, even if Shikamaru keeps a lot of space between them. “So uh,” Naruto grins and runs a hand through his blond hair, “That blond kid. What do you think of him? I hear he’s quite the troublemaker.”
Kid Shikamaru looks at him like he’s not as subtle as he thinks he is, his gaze far more intelligent than any other at his age but he lets Naruto ask his question anyway.
“He’s smarter than people think he is. A bit loud, but I think it’s because he’s lonely. A lot of people seem to hate him.”
Naruto winces and faces back forward. By now they’re walking by the Academy and he wonders if the Shikamaru he knows is at home. He’s in his mind right? He glances back at the kid at his side with a thoughtful frown. This wasn’t a memory, but Naruto didn’t know enough to know exactly what this was.
“Dad said I should treat him how I want to treat him though.” Shikamaru continues, stopping the blond’s thoughts. “I don’t think we’ll be friends or anything, but he’s not that bad.”
For some reason, Naruto finds himself smiling and reaches out to tug at the kid’s ponytail but the kid has already stopped several steps behind. There is a look of real fear on his face, but before Naruto can ask, he runs off. Before the blond can give chase, the world shifts around him and he finds himself in a dark forest. Shadows dance around him, threatening to claw at him as the darkness bears down on him.
“You’re trespassing.” The familiar voice is all the warning he gets before a kunai buzzes by his ear as he ducks. Before he can find the location of Shikamaru however, the shadows do finally come to life and streak towards him.
“It’s me, Naruto!” The blond yells as a tendril brushes against his sandals and nearly crumbles to his knees when the shadows stop.
“Naruto doesn’t know any jutsus to get here.”
Get here?
He doesn’t have time to think as the shadows come back, this time faster than before. If that wasn’t enough, Shikamaru finally makes an appearance. It’s not hard to guess that this is shortly after his promotion. He’s still wearing the open jacket with the mesh t-shirt, but over that is the newly minted leaf vest. Naruto barely blocks a kick in his nostalgia as the other launches a physical attack against him.
“You’re trespassing,” the voice continues, but it’s not from the Shikamaru in front of him. The kid in front of him continues to launch kicks and punches that Naruto can easily dodge. Something feels off, more than just the voice not coming from the guy launching his attacks.
“What am I trespassing on?” Naruto says, attempting to find the source of the voice. Yet, the trees make it echo around him and he has to dodge another shadow when he stops for too long.
“Don’t you know that ninja who cross into another’s mind should be careful? If you die in here, you die out there.”
So Shikamaru knew that Naruto was in his mind, he just didn’t believe it was Naruto there. The blond knew he had to convince him, but how.
“Ino helped me,” he begins but the kid in front of him throws another kick that he leaps back from.
“Ino doesn’t even like to come here.”
Sometimes when we go in, there’s a fight.
And Shikamaru was certainly fighting, but…Naruto didn’t know the tactician to launch an offensive like this, not unless..
Blue eyes flicker around the woods, watching the shadows as they swirl. Dodging an attack is easy, dodging the shadow that lunges for him then is reflex. Strike, shadow, strike, shadow… Shikamaru wasn’t trying to catch him, he was trying to see how to take him down. He was watching maneuvers and tactics. He was observing. This time, when his eyes track the shadows, he can see where they come from and he strikes. The Shikamaru in front of him disappears in a puff of smoke as soon as he hits it, but Naruto isn’t finished. He launches himself towards the shadows with ease and this time, the body he hits doesn’t disappear.
“It doesn’t mean you’ll get the information you need. If I die, you’ll be trapped here. Is it worth it?”
“Yes,” Naruto says without hesitation and this time, surprise is evident on the other’s face and the shadows fade away.
“Why? Why are you here?”
“Because it’s my name on your wrist. Shikamaru, please, you have to wake up.” Surprise morphs to pain before the forest with the kid before him disappears and Naruto finds himself back in the center of the village. Shikamaru had been there every time he landed, but when he looked around this time, the other wasn't there.
“What the hell is going on?” It’s not the first time Naruto’s wondered this, but it is the first time he’s really felt unnerved. Where would Shikamaru be? Where is the part that makes him, him?Naruto immediately thinks of the hill he first landed on. He knows that’s Shikamaru’s favorite spot, but he’s already seen a ghost of him there and he knows that can’t be it. Ino’s house? Choji’s? Asuma’s? None of them sit right. His own apartment is a thought, but it’s quickly pushed away too. Shikamaru’s been there, but it’s still Naruto’s space. What place is important to him? The Nara Forest? No, he’d been there too even if he didn’t know it was there and he’s not too keen on fighting Shikamaru again. If he was Shikamaru, where would he be?
Blue eyes flicker upwards towards the Hokage faces, a frown pulling at his whiskered cheeks. He remembers the brief moment they spent up there, when he’d tugged Shikamaru up and briefly thanked him by brushing a kiss across his lips. If he was Shikamaru and believed his soulmate rejected him (which he did and Naruto knew he’d go back to the place where they shared a smile) he’d go to the places they were together.
As soon as he thinks about it, the world around him shifts again and he finds his feet on hard stone. The village below is left in shambles and from here, Naruto can see darkness edging it past the walls.
“Of course you’re here in the end, Naruto.”